From the U.S. Government Accountability Office, www.gao.gov
Transcript for: Social Security Administration Improper Disability
Insurance Payments
Description: Audio interview by GAO staff with Steve Lord, Director,
Forensic Audits and Investigative Service
Related GAO Work: GAO-13-635 Disability Insurance: Work Activity
Indicates Certain Social Security Disability Insurance Payments Were
Potentially Improper
Released: September 2013
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[ Narrator: ] Welcome to GAO's Watchdog Report, your source for news and
information from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. It's
September 2013. The Social Security Administration's Disability
Insurance Program is intended to provide cash assistance for workers
whose long-term disabilities limit their work activities. Improper
overpayments can occur if beneficiaries perform disqualifying work
activities that SSA does not detect. A team lead by Steve Lord, a
director in Forensic Audit and Investigative Services team, recently
examined disability insurance overpayments. GAO's Sarah Kaczmarek sat
down with Steve to talk about what they found.
[ Sarah Kaczmarek: ] What's the scope of the problem here in terms of
dollars spent and number of people receiving improper payments?
[ Steve Lord: ] It's important to note that the Social Security
Administration's Disability Insurance Program is the nation's largest
cash assistance program for workers with disabilities. In fiscal year
2011, more than 10 million beneficiaries received over 128 billion in
benefits. This is a large program. In our report, we estimated that the
Social Security Administration made about $1.29 billion in potential
overpayments to about 36,000 individuals as of January 2013.
[ Sarah Kaczmarek: ] And what's SSA doing to prevent making improper
payments?
[ Steve Lord: ] Well, they're doing several things. One key mechanism is
the so-called continuing disability reviews generated through its
enforcement efforts. The process involves matching SSA disability
payments against IRS wage data to trigger alerts to help identify cases
that exceeds best-buy earnings threshold. Self reporting is also
required under the program—disability payment beneficiaries are required
to report increases in their earnings to SSA.
[ Sarah Kaczmarek: ] And have they had any success with those
strategies?
[ Steve Lord: ] Yes, they've had some success, but they're by no means
perfect. Our report identified numerous examples where an earnings alert
was generated but not acted upon in a timely manner by SSA. For example,
we identified a few cases where individuals earned potential
overpayments of thousands of dollars and one notable example we
identified an individual made $90,000 in potential overpayments.
[ Sarah Kaczmarek: ] We're talking about over a billion dollars in
potential improper payments here. What's GAO recommending be done?
[ Steve Lord: ] Well, we believe they need to improve their enforcement
and oversight efforts, particularly as they deal with the so-called wait
period. Under program rules, you're required to wait 5 months before
receiving benefits, yet we noted though our work there's people earning
substantial earnings, that is earnings over a thousand dollars during
that mandatory 5-month waiting period, which concerns us. So we think
they need to develop better mechanism to identify work activity during
all months of the waiting period. Especially when the wait period occurs
in a year before the benefits are actually paid. We identified a slight
glitch in their process where they had difficulty identifying those
cases.
[ Sarah Kaczmarek: ] Finally, for taxpayers concerned with improper
payments, what's the bottom line here?
[ Steve Lord: ] Well, the bottom line is this. This is a really
important program for deserving beneficiaries—those truly in need and
those that are disabled. At the same time, the Social Security
Administration—they need to enhance their oversight efforts to ensure
that only eligible beneficiaries receive benefits. The reason this is
important is there's a growing concerns about the solvency of the
disability trust fund. As we note in our report, the Social Security
Board of Trustees projects that the disability trust fund will be
exhausted in the year 2016. Thus, enhanced oversight, such as we're
recommending is needed to help ensure these precious taxpayer funds are
spent as intended.
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